Currently…Other Peoples Clothes by Calla Henkel - thank you to @randomhouse and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this one.

Zoe Beech heads to Berlin for a semester abroad to escape the memory of her murdered best friend. She teams up with Hailey Mader and together the girls land on a sublet offered up by a famous thriller writer. The girls move in and chaos ensues. Convinced that the writer is watching them as material for her next book, they give her a show, hosting club-like parties in the apartment, filled with drinking, drugs, and outrageous antics. Set against the backdrop of Berlin, these two millennials manipulate reality and it all starts to spiral out of control.

Intrigued but afraid I’m not cool enough for this book - this hipster millennial tone is making me realize I’m not hip or a millennial. It’s clear what a talent Henkel is as this is her debut novel- her writing style is as edgy as the content of this book. She writes the intricacies of female friendships to perfection and has setting down pat as Berlin takes the stage as the third character alongside Zoe and Hailey. Reviews have hailed this as a slow-burn with the end being worth it but it’s taking me some time to get there.

Zoe Beech is an exchange college student looking for a fresh start and an escape from all the horrors of her hometown life. Zoe finds Hailey, a fellow expat and art student, who is looking to make a name for herself in the art world. The two find an amazing pre-war apartment in the artsy, bohemian city of Berlin. Their landlord is best-selling writer Beatrice Becks who seems to be watching them and looking for inspiration for her next thriller novel.

After being rejected from numerous clubs and failing to be invited to after opening parties, Hailey and Zoe decide to throw their own weekly party with an exclusive club vibe. Classes and studies are secondary to their nights spent late night clubbing as the two try to find romance while creating exciting characters for Beatrice’s plot.

The novel builds its foundation and draws the reader into the lives of 20 something women during the 2000s. The story portrays the edgy, party scene with lots of sex, drugs and drama. Calla Henkel captures the intricate friendship between the characters, the lure of true crime and the power of social media.

This novel was a slow build for me with a lot thrown in toward the end but the power of the writing kept me reading to the thrilling conclusion. I’ll look forward to reading more from this new author. Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to review this novel before its release.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I enjoyed this twisted psychological thriller more than I expected to. The quick teaser of the aftermath at the beginning of the book was enough to keep me going through the first few chapters of build up prior to the main character arriving in Berlin, when the real action starts. There are a lot of themes to unpack here - identity formation, intense friendship, obsession, the question of what is "true" art, etc. On the whole I really enjoyed this book and was left with a sense of resolution.

Other People’s Clothes, by Calla Henkel is a smart and edgy portrait of two young women studying abroad in the mid 2000’s, and there’s a whole lot of story packed into this book, but without becoming too scattered in focus. The novel presents itself as a rollicking slice of life of two art students, Zoe and Hailey, and their adventures studying in Berlin, but rarely attending classes, in favor of clubbing, gossiping about Amanda Knox, edging their way into the art crowd, and throwing wild parties in the amazing rental they are subletting from a famous novel writer.

This is a wild and crazy fun book, and full of sex, drugs, parties, and drama, and truly captures the early to mid 2000’s party scene. Just when it really starts to feel like a book about nothing, everything takes a sharp turn, and then another, and then another. This book is really a slow burn thriller, but when it gets going, it is wild with a jaw dropping ending.

Henkel’s writing style simultaneously evokes both Brett Easton Ellis and Megan Abbot vibes, with her social commentary on social media and fame, paired with the complexities of female friendship.


Random things I enjoyed:
Zoe‘s knowledge of perfume, and the way Henkel uses scent to evoke memory or nostalgia was intriguing. Scent and perfume is a frequent theme throughout the novel.

The Amanda Knox and Meredith Kerchner storyline sets stage for the time period the novel takes place and creates a foreboding mood. The events just rely on fact and are not fictionalized and non exploitative to Manama Knox, who is still a very real person today. While many readers will pick this book up purely for the Knox scandal element, the Knox connection really takes a backseat to to the rest of the story.

Calla Henkel will be an exciting new author to watch in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for providing me with the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’m not sure what I just read.
It’s kind of a slow paced book, and the thriller/mystery part didn’t really kick in until the second part of the book. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting after reading the synopsis, but it was overall a pretty good read.

This is one of those books that when you finish you think to yourself “what did I just even read?”

‘Other People’s Clothes’ is a fun, dark mystery about two American girls who study abroad in Berlin. Zoe is using her study abroad to escape the pain of the recent murder of her best friend and connects with Hailey who becomes her roommate. Hailey comes from a wealthy family and is obsessed with all things pop culture, being famous and creating memorable experiences. They find an apartment to sublet on Craigslist which belongs to a well-known thriller writer. However, they soon realize the author has been spying on them to base her next book on their lives. After this realization, a chaotic game of cat and mouse ensues.

This was a slow burn so slow calling it a thriller is kind of a stretch. The thriller aspect doesn’t really kick in until the second half of the book but it was still engaging since the characters were so odd. It was fun watching them navigate studying abroad in Germany. Majority of the book is them navigating the Berlin party scene which involves a lot of drugs, sex and drama. I’ve never been to Berlin and I don’t think I would survive a day with their nightlife.

I didn’t love the writing, it seemed a bit YA but the plot was was intriguing. I was curious to see how things would end but it takes till the very end to have everything come together. The last sentence was 🤯🤯!!!!!

Zoe and Hailey are unhinged young women trying to navigate their identities in the backdrop of Berlin. Their friendship was toxic and messy and they are quite unlikeable complicated characters.

I gave it 3 stars but I did enjoy it and would recommend it purely off of the crazy journey but prepare to commit to get to the good parts.

I am a huge true crime aficionado, so with the mention of Amanda Knox, I knew I needed to get my hands on this book.

I found the characters fascinating, and the plot highly intriguing. The biggest down side for me was the writing style, which I just found was not my own personal taste. This book also felt like a party scene- not necessarily bad, but not necessarily what I wanted to be reading.

Overall the book was fair, I would give this author another read for sure. There are so many amazing reviews written for this book, so I think I am in the minority which is completely wonderful :) Read other reviews and hopefully this will be the book for you!

A bizarre and fascinating debut novel that spends the majority of its pages as a snappy, dark comedy, but then morphs into something much more disturbing at the end.

I love a campus/study abroad novel, especially a smart and wryly humorous one with complicated characters. Other People’s Clothes meet that criteria, and starts off largely as a romp, albeit a wittier one than most.

I struggled a bit with the very, very dark turn of the book, not because it was poorly done or because the rest of the story doesn’t fit with it, but because it happened so late and abruptly in the narrative. Is there foreshadowing of what is to come throughout the whole novel? Of course. Plot-wise, it’s not an issue. But the tone shift at the end was a bit of a jolt that feels a little disjointed.

Fortunately the ending of the novel pulls together well, and the very last word of the book (a stunning twist!) makes for a fun ending that brings a little bit of delightful and smart camp back into the dark and disturbing.

So, some smoothing out in terms of structure was probably needed in the latter part of the book, but otherwise I have no complaints about this one.

Two, young Americans find an amazing apartment in Berlin and begin to live ridiculous and lush lives only to realize that their landlady has been hiding a secret from them the whole time.

Funny and darkly entertaining, this novel takes on the voyeurism to ridiculous and strange heights as these two best friends become obsessed with the idea of performance as revenge and confront their own fears

I think I must just be too old for this book - and I was probably too old even when I was the actual age of the protagonists... What other reviewers found snappy and wry and a pointed consideration of what it means to be young in Berlin, I found self-indulgent and whiny and more than kind of irritating...

My issues are not with the writing - there were a number of places where the story really clicked along for me with sharp observations and social commentary - is entirely down to the characters themselves. I found myself wanting to slap Zoe AND Hadley on so many occasions that I finally just stopped caring about the story on my irritation. The characters may resonate with younger readers but my 48 year-old self just kept rolling her eyes., which made it very difficult to empathize with their situation OR to care about what might come next. This one just wasn't a good fit for me...

Other People's Clothes by Calla Henkel is a novel follows Zoe, an art student who is left reeling after the horrifying murder of her best friend. To cope, Zoe begins studying abroad in Berlin and links up with Hailey, another exchange student whose life revolves around her idols Britney Spears and Andy Warhol. The women's adventures lead them to sublet the apartment of a notorious thriller writer Beatrice Becks. However, the longer they stay the more they feel unnerved wondering if someone is watching them. This feeling leads the women to believe Beatrice is the one watching and using them as a plot line for her next novel. Hailey and Zoe decide to up the ante and mold themselves into a character worthy of Beatrice's next novel. Will their new personas get them noticed or get them deep into something they can't come back from?

A debut novel with a fantastic premise? Count me in! This book had unique characters in the way that you love to hate them. Initially, the characters seem a little lost and self-involved, but they grow into caricatures of themselves. At one point, the characters can't seem to remember what is real and what they constructed of themselves. I do think it would have helped to have a bit more back story on the characters to understand their motivations a bit more as sometimes it seemed like they were senselessly making bad decisions.

As for the writing style, it was unexpected. I haven't quite read a book with the writing style where narrative pieces are thrown in parts of the novel. The pacing is initially a bit slow before things really start to pick up. Once he page picked up, it was at breakneck speed filled with tension! The setting added to the interest of this story and I appreciated being in a European city that wasn't Paris or London. The novel did a fantastic job illustrating the energy of the city and its almost flinty nature.

Overall, this was a slow burn novel filled with toxic friendships and a dash of crime. I would be interested to read future novels from this author!

Many thanks to the publisher Doubleday Books and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

If you like: toxic friendships, early 2000s pop culture, the Amanda Knox trial and seedy Berlin than this is the perfect book for you. I loved it, devoured it, and promptly re-read it.

Zoe, a student in New York, applies for a year abroad, hoping to run away from the horrific events of her best friend being murdered. She ends up in Berlin, where she befriends Hailey, an aspiring artist focused on living life authentically. The two end up subletting the apartment of a writer and hope it will bring them inspiration. As they delve deeper into the club scene in Berlin, the girls begin to lose themselves. This is a character-driven story about female friendships, the arts, travel, and finding a sense of self. Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

I really wanted to like this book, and I think the premise was very fun and intriguing… however, it just fell flat for me for a bit too long. I didn’t particularly feel like anything very gripping happened until about 70% in, and by then I had mostly lost interest.

I would have liked to have had more suspense and intrigue, but a good majority of the book is just the two main characters and a host of side characters going to parties all the time, with snippets thrown in of Zoe’s best friend’s death.

I absolutely hate to ever say this, but this one just did not do it for me. Maybe if you don’t mind more slow-burn novels, still give this one a shot! It may do for others what it didn’t do for me, and that’s okay!

As always, happy reading!

I personally did not connect with this story.

The book is slow-moving in the beginning, too bogged down in details that I just didn't care about. Then about half-way through, the "thriller" begins to take shape with the two girls. This novel is filled with deplorable characters who you will literally hate.

I honestly kept thinking are 20-years olds really this obsessive, jealous and despicable.

Thank you DoubleDay Books for the advance reader copy.

I did enjoy this one but felt like the mystery behind Ivy overshadowed majority of the storyline and found that it was about 50 pages too long.

A debut novel, this is an interesting take on college art students going abroad and experiencing new things (understatement of the year). I thought the writing style was different and interesting with side narrations typographical nuances in the printing of the book. This wasn’t a hit for me. I didn’t root for any of the characters in any way - in fact I disliked them - and not in a “what-an-interesting-horrible -person-that-is-I-wonder-what-will-happen” kind of way. I never cared. Not in the beginning which moves slowly or when the plot pace picked up midway-ish through the novel. At times, the plot and character choices went a bit left for me and seemed almost simple and stereotypical. I can see this as a movie though? I appreciate the advanced copy from Doubleday.

I don't think the description does the novel a service because it's a bit misleading. The Amanda Knox trial doesn't play that big of a role. Instead, this is primarily a story about toxic friendship and partying in Berlin. The plot takes a while to get going and I considered giving up. The author sort of drops us in without much explanation of where the narrator is in her life and then very little happens until about the midpoint. While the story is ultimately entertaining, the uneven pacing keeps me from rating this one higher.

Genre: suspense, women's fiction
Pub date: 2/1/22
In one sentence: Zoe and Hailey are living it up as exchange students in Berlin - until their dream apartment and dream year abroad start to become a nightmare.

This book is as hard to describe as the city of Berlin itself - there's a lot here - art and art school commentary, a book within a book, female friendship, partying and drugs, etc. But the core of the story to me is really Zoe and Hailey's friendship - because if anyone can convince you to make poor decisions, it's a girl friend. The story starts off slow but picks up speed around the 50% mark before sprinting to a chaotic and satisfying finish. I wouldn't say it's a thriller because it's not action packed, but there is plenty of suspense and drama. Berlin is a gritty and edgy city, and this is a gritty and edgy story.

If you like subjects like (toxic) friendship, true crime, and dark academia, this one is worth picking up! My semester abroad was nowhere near this wild.

Review posted to Goodreads 1/12/22, to be posted to Instagram closer to pub date.

Okay y'all. This one is a SLOWWWW burn, but once you hit the halfway point the story pulls a Rihanna and goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5. So buckle up, friends. I also think the synopsis is a bit misleading, so here's how I would describe this book:

MY SYNOPSIS:

Zoe is an art student. She has a tendency to become fixated with the strong female influences in her life, which to the outside world is a bit odd. When her long-time best friend Ivy is murdered, she decides to take a year to study abroad in Berlin in hopes of numbing the pain. Enter: Hailey Mader, pop-culture-obsessed art student who is also planning to study in Berlin.

Zoe and Hailey become roommates and end up subletting an apartment from well-known thriller author Beatrice Becks. They soon realize Beatrice is watching them and believe they are the subject of her next novel. Excited to be in the spotlight, Hailey decides to take Beatrice's narrative into her own hands. With the easily impressionable Zoe on board, the duo opens an exclusive night club in Beatrice's apartment.

The club is an instant success, drawing in the bored party-goers of Berlin, as the girls continue to uncover secrets about Beatrice and her family. FROM HERE, SH*T. GETS. CRAZY. Aaaand I've decided not to spoil the rest for you. There will be blood. There will be consequences. There will be.... a novel? TBD.


REVIEW: I had a tough time deciding on a star rating because this felt like two different books. I'd give the first half 3 stars, the back half 4... So I'll settle on a 3.5, rounding to 4 for Goodreads.

If you can make it through the uphill climb that is the first 150-ish pages, you'll speed through the rest with the velocity of a jet engine. The ending is a pile-up of *WTF* moments that leave you little time to recover from one to the next... right down to the very last sentence.

Overall: I liked it. I didn't LOVE it.


Some other thoughts:

-"obsessed with the Amanda Knox trial" is a stretch and not relevant enough to the storyline to be included in the synopsis header.

-What, was, with, all, the, commas,,,,?! I truly hope the editor isn't done here, but with a release date of 2/1/22 I assume there's not much time for corrections. I don't think I'm allowed to quote directly from the book before publication, but HOLLYYY CRAP. The flow just WASN'T there for the most part.

-The last sentence of the book is a call-back to a detail to the snail-paced first half in which I had already forgotten a lot of by the end. After a triple-take to understand what it meant... Jaw, meet floor. Cue an audible "HHHUUHHHHH?????"

If you wanna chat more about this book, or any books for that matter, connect with me on my bookstagram! @read.with.KC
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*Thank you to NetGalley & Knopf Doubleday for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!*